Keen to prove that women are just as good as men when it comes to getting behind the wheel, Eastern Daily Press journalist Isabel Cockayne decided to go one step further and learn to fly an aeroplane.

With the help of American pilot instructors at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, Isabel was put through her paces with a test flight in a state-of-the-art simulator.

Reliving the experience in the paper, she told readers: “Apparently, they cannot stump up the £2,500-an-hour flying costs of a real aeroplane for a civilian who has only seen the inside of a cockpit twice.

“Still, the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker simulator has exactly the same controls as those huge refuelling monsters I had seen on the airfield and costs only £2.50 an hour, so it’s the next best thing.”

USAF pilots have at least six simulator missions each year to test electronic, hydraulic, engine, fuel/cold weather procedure, and pneumatic and aero-dynamic breakdowns.

And as Isabel found, it can send you plummeting towards the ground or shake you around, and has sound effects to make it seem like you are in a real aeroplane.

It can also make you sick – but Isabel was made of stronger stuff.

She said: “Although the Americans would love to have me back, I think I’ll stick to my speciality – parallel parking.”

Do you have a story about the regional press? Ring 0116 227 3122/3121, or
e-mail [email protected]